Wellington W5719

Wellington W5719

View down the valley into Edale

Bomb fragment

On  the 31st July 1941 Wellington W5719 crashed into Kinder Scout in the Peak District . It was returning from a raid on Cologne ,Germany .
It is alleged that the bombs had not been dropped due to cloud cover over the target and that the aircraft was returning to RAF Snaith in Yorkshire .
That night there was also low cloud over Northern England and their location must have been misjudged because they flew beyond the airfield  and into the flank of Kinder Scout .
On impact the bombs exploded flinging the rear turret away from the aircraft and down into Grindsbrook Clough  . In the rear turret the very fortunate Rear Gunner Sgt Earl Tilley survived . The other crew members all died in the impact .

Bomb fragments

They were
Sgt Percival Harold Charles Parrott   Pilot
Sgt Joseph Arthur Haswell  Pilot
Sgt Jack Douglas Evelle  Nav
Sgt Frederick Kenneth Webber  WO/AG   
Sgt Dennis Aloysius Monk  AG

and of course the survivor Sgt Earl Tilley AG

Sgt Evelle was a Canadian .
The pictures below show the site just below the perimeter path . Little remains today , small fragments and  lumps of molten alloy . There is a small  cross and plaque dedicated to the men .   On a recent visit I realised that some of the debris left at the crash site was bomb casing fragments from exploded bombs . There are sources that say the aircraft had dropped its bombs . These fragments at the very least prove that they didnt drop all the bombs .